Keep your Keys from Getting Locked Out

Getting locked out is a common experience, and some of us are more likely to have this happen than others. When you get locked out of your home, usually you have a spare somewhere, in your car, under a plant, or wherever. However, your office space is usually managed by a property management company and so you call them.

For repeat offenders, often the solution is to find another tenant in the building whom you can trust and giving them a copy of your key. This usually works, especially in smaller communities. No amount of lecturing or reminding will actually help someone change their behavior.

However, one thing will help not only repeat offenders but everyone: change the design of your door locking system. Often electronic systems are prohibitively expensive, so we don’t invest in them; however when it comes time to upgrade our door knobs, we have a great, relatively simple opportunity:

Remove the lock from the turning handle, and only have dead-bolt locks.

This way you have to take your keys out of the inside door in order to lock it if you need to close up shop temporarily. In addition, the door stays unlocked, otherwise it provides a slightly ugly reminder that you haven’t fully unlocked it, on account of a dead bolt sticking out. In addition, you can still operate the door with the natural feel, because of the regular door knob, sans lock.